Conveyor systems in many shapes and forms are used widely in manufacturing and industrial processes. Specifically, there are many dispenser systems that employ even more different dispenser systems at the packaging end of the manufacturing process. These systems make use of a conduit or conveyor track to funnel components from one position on a conveyor across an expanse to another position. The conduit or conveyor track is designed like a pivot arm so that the track can be swung about the pivot point to align the exit port of the conduit or conveyor track to align with a receiving entry port/gate of the next stage of the process, for instance packaging. An alignment guide system ensures the product passes through the conduit without jamming or losing speed. These guide systems are comprised of units or “links” that are attached together to form a chain conveying guide diverter. This chain can be manipulated to direct bottles into the proper recipient gates. Existing systems typically use a fixed-length pivot-arm to dispense product. This forces the receiving gates of a packaging setup, in one example, to be set in an arc-shaped block with a center-point at the pivot point of the pivot arm.
When using a fixed-length chain guide in another example, the pivot arm must feed into a second small segment. The small segment connects the end exit of the pivot arm with the receiving entry gate of the next stage of the conveyor. The small segment floats between the exit end of the pivot arm and the receiving entry gate allowing the receiving entry gates to remain in a linear arrangement, instead of following an arc profile. The pivot arm is then able to swing about the pivot point with the exit end successfully dispensing product into each next-stage receiving gate.
There also exist diverters composed of flexible sides which allow the diverter to flex and bend in different positions. The flexible nature of these diverters allows the entrance gates to fall along a linear profile perpendicular to the direction of flow. This design of flexible arm does not change in axial length, however, and in order to reach gates at the extremes of travel, there must be sufficient slack in the diverter arm length in order to accommodate the longer distance of reach. This results in a curved diverter profile when the diverter is relaxed and in position to reach gates of the shortest distance from the pivot point. This curved profile can pose an issue with processing time as the bottles must travel a greater path distance than necessary to reach nearest gates, this results in time wasted. A curved profile may also potentially slow down and allow product to back up in a flexible diverter as a result of the increased angle between the flexible path and the straight line between the entrance and exit positions.